So, I finally got this mix done and finished, took awhile and I kept putting it off as other things came up (story of my life really) but got to the point where I just decided to put it down as a simple mix rather than mess around with scratch, juggles and acapellas otherwise I would have put it off even longer. So, a little bit of history behind this mix…
Initially I was asked to make a work out mix consisting of all female artists since the good people over at show kings have been interviewing and working with some of the local female Korean body sculptures/builders so having a work out mix catered to them would have been a nice fit. However therein lay the problem, finding enough songs done by female rappers that people not only know but that were also up-tempo enough with a strong enough beat to serve as good work out music. Needless to say, it was a bit of a fail. Why?
Well, think about it, how totally under represented are females in Hip Hop, name your top 20 artists, are any of them female? I highly doubt it, maybe 1 or 2 might sneak into some peoples’ lists but even if they do (Lauryn Hill would have to be up there), that’s still barely 10%. So my song pool was extremely limited, too limited to make a full mix of workout style songs so instead I decided to make it more of a Hip Hop/RnB classic cross mix so I could feature more female artists and still include songs that people would know (Using female artists from current music is even less of an option given how bad they are)
Still, even in doing so, there are obviously a few artists who feature more than others which is a testament to those artists but it is also sad that the industry has really relegated female artists to a mere after thought. Even more sad when you listen to what some of these very talented females artist had to say in their rhymes back then acting as really positive role modals for young females, a far cry from the female hip hop artists of today who are either too caught up on image or no one can understand what the hell they are saying (yes I’m looking at you Iggy)
Ill attach this article as well about Missy Elliot that gives a really good and clear view of how influential some of these female artists were and the legacy they have left behind
akadjblaze 